The raccoon is adaptable, agile, and tenacious, a trickster in legend, ""interesting"" as a pet--a practice endorsed by Blassingame for the animal's early years despite the risks involved. Indians said aroughcum, Linnaeus (in ignorance) said long-tailed bear, and scientists today say Procryon lotor, using the washing-paws habit (still unexplained) as identifier. Most people think of the masked face and a talent for opening garbage cans. The major facets of a raccoon's life are detailed here, but the text meanders freely, looking readily at exceptions and oddball instances--like the raccoon with an ear for Beethoven's Ninth. The photographs are adequate and aptly placed, the contents more demanding than Hess' The Curious Raccoons.